Smartphone makers to bring festival deals to stores

Retailers said the brands have promised offers or promotions during the festive season in the offline space.Gulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | October 07, 2019, 07:57 IST

The dispute, between India’s brick-and-mortar stores selling mobile phones and brands such as Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Realme, appears to have been resolved after a series of recent meetings between the two sides. Retailers said the brands have promised offers or promotions during the festive season in the offline space.

This is the fallout after the retailers’ association red-flagged predatory pricing and discounts on e-commerce platforms. However, the retailer group has cautioned that it is open to considering legal options against the brands and online platforms, if the promises are not delivered.

“We’ve had meetings with the brands to restore the balance between offline and online sales. They have even promised to support us through the festive season. However, if the talks do not materialise into action, and it becomes a do-or-die situation for us, then we will be forced to consider legal options,” said Arvinder Khurana, president of the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA).

National and state-level representatives of the association met with top executives of Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Realme over the past week to seek the same level of discounts being given by the brands to ecommerce platforms on offline channels.

The demand followed clarifications from top ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart and many brands that discounts offered online are extended by the brands and not the online channel.

Industry insiders said online platforms were carrying disclaimers in advertisements on the sales that discounts came from brands directly, and that easy finance schemes and cash backs on purchase of certain amounts were being given by non-banking finance companies and banks.

The mobile retailer forum has said that smartphone brands need to relook their policies to protect the offline trade, which still makes up over 63% of the mobile phone sales in the country, and ensure level-playing field.

The absence of direct discounts from brands had the offline traders feeling they were losing out on the opportunity to get more customers while online retailers used their 'dominant position' to take consumer share.

AIMRA has already raised this issue with the Competition Commission of India, commerce ministry and the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT). It has sought curbs on the practice of exclusive tie-ups between etailers and smartphone makers to lower prices from the government.